Grading skiing alphabet as a criterium for selection of the right didactical method of teaching of skiing of younger school age beginners
Abstract
Different didactical methods can be chosen for teaching of skiing of beginners of younger school age (7-10 years). The choice depends mainly on children's skills but also on the snow and terrain conditions.
We created grading skiing alphabet which consists of seven basic skills. According to a success rate in completing these skills children (7-10 years) were divided into groups which were taught using different methods - with parallel ski position (better skills) and with stemmed ski position (worse skills).
Three-day skiing course was finished by skills slalom. This is a qualitative research descriptive case study.
Participant observation was the main method and we also used scale for assessment of skills. The results showed that more children were put into a group taught by stemmed ski position method.
Proportions of boys and girls in different groups were very similar. According to the age of children we found that younger age children (7 years) were able to perform the skills of grading skiing alphabet better and that is why the proportion of parallel/stemmed ski position groups was relatively equal, which was not case with the older children (9-10 years).
Final skills slalom was finished by all children from parallel ski position groups. From the stemmed ski positions groups only a small percentage of children were not able to finish the skills slalom.